Chapter 126 - Punishment (5)

Deliberately ignoring the chat, Smartass addressed the party.

"Then Fresia and I will be off. We'll meet again later."

"Sure. I'll let you know when things are more or less sorted out."

Smartass took Fresia back through the Warp.

[Madam Cat's Cradle]▶Smartass! Are you ignoring my question?

▶Hahaha, looks like it's an awkward subject for him.

▶He's so damn embarrassed he's ignoring us and leaving the screen. ... Is what I almost said~.

Once Smartass and Fresia were gone, Def asked Squishy, who was perched on his hand,

"Squishy, you're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

'Nope!'

Squishy gave a vigorous, prolonged quiver, letting him know it was perfectly healthy.

"Yaaawn... It's late. Let's head back and get some sleep."

"The entire Mage Tower will be in an uproar tomorrow."

"Everyone and their dog will be asking questions. Gracie, you'd better keep your wits about you too. Got it?"

"Y-yes!"

+++

The next day, just as Nellin had predicted, the Mage Tower was thrown into turmoil. They had already begun wondering why no one had heard from their master when Nellin's party, the guests of honor at the previous evening's banquet, arrived bearing a shocking revelation.

After asking for the tower's mages to be assembled, Nellin revealed the shocking truth about the death of the legendary hero, Ventus Frail.

"The master... tried to kill Ventus Frail?"

"The lich was the Mage of a Thousand Spells?!"

"Is this really true?"

"But Lady Nellin told us herself."

"S-Saintess Fresia loved the Mage of a Thousand Spells, so she died with him... Ugh!"

"Surely the master wouldn't have..."

"Hey! Are you questioning Lady Nellin and Her Holiness?"

"N-no, that's not what I meant!"

Some immediately accepted Nellin's revelations, but others found them harder to believe.

CLAP!

Amid the confusion, Nellin clapped to draw their attention.

"I know you're all shocked. I was pretty shocked when I first heard it too. So after the banquet, I called him out and questioned him to find out if it was true. He looked startled too, and I guess his guilty conscience got to him, because he attacked us."

"W-what?!"

"The master attacked Lady Nellin and Her Holiness?"

"So it was true?"

"Wait. Then where is the master now?!"

Nellin immediately answered the perfectly reasonable question.

"He's dead. Paulen!"

"Here they are."

Paulen took Brooks Besilza's severed hand and staff out of his Inventory, where he had stored them.

"Brooks Besilza's hand and staff."

"Th-the master's arm?!"

"You killed the master?!"

"Even you, Lady Nellin, cannot do something like that without so much as informing the Mage Tower..."

The murmurs grew louder.

CLAP!

Nellin clapped to get their attention.

"I'm going to explain how it came to this, so listen carefully."

Nellin explained to the mages that Brooks Besilza had begun attacking when they confronted him about the lich being Ventus Frail and who had tried to kill Ventus thirty years ago. Shocked at the exposure of the truth he had kept hidden all this time, he had blurted out one thing after another.

In reality, Brooks Besilza had gone berserk upon learning the lich's identity and lunged at Gracie, but Nellin recast the truth she had heard from Smartass as things Ventus Frail had blurted out in despair.

"To think the master had such an inferiority complex toward the Mage of a Thousand Spells..."

"Brooks! I always knew he was a devious bastard, but to do something like that!"

"He wasn't looking after Gracie? He just found it amusing that she'd become a magical-device mage?"

Brooks Besilza's petty, ugly character was laid bare, one detail at a time. Had he concealed his nature perfectly, things might have been different, but those of his own generation and his former seniors and juniors had a vague understanding of what he was really like. No one declared Nellin's account an outright lie.

Nellin went on to explain how they had dealt with Brooks Besilza. As he recklessly hurled spells in an attempt to wipe them out, Paulen had stepped forward and cut off his arm with his sword. When the pain left him vulnerable, Gracie had attacked him with magic. Nellin concluded by saying that all that remained was the severed arm and staff.

"..."

When the story was finally over, the murmuring mages fell silent as one. The revelations were shocking enough, but they were also beset by a vague anxiety about what would become of the Mage Tower.

Then Amelia addressed them.

"Everyone."

"I understand your confusion. But what Lady Nellin has told you is true. Driven by his own vile desires, Brooks Besilza lured a hero into a trap. The Mage of a Thousand Spells, Ventus Frail, became a lich. And... Saintess Fresia sacrificed herself to grant peace to the companion she loved."

Having impressed upon them that Brooks Besilza had ultimately caused the deaths of two great heroes, Amelia clasped her hands.

"Would you please spare a moment to pray for the peace of those two souls who have returned to heaven?"

Amelia began to pray first. Paulen followed her lead, closing his eyes and clasping his hands. Gradually, the mages present joined them. It was difficult to openly argue or curse in the face of an act of mourning for the dead.

In the end, every mage there prayed, thinking to themselves.

'I-it seems to be true.'

'Come to think of it, even at the Mage Tower, it was absurd for that legendary mage to die in a magical accident.'

'Saintess Fresia being in love with Ventus Frail comes out of nowhere... But why would anyone say that if it weren't true?'

'Gracie, of all people, attacked the master?'

'Does that mean Gracie avenged her ancestor?'

The silent time spent praying for others gave the mages a chance to collect their thoughts.

+++

To start with the outcome, Nellin's party's plan succeeded. Not every mage could be said to believe their account, but the prevailing opinion leaned in their favor.

First, the story came from Nellin's party, who had no particular reason to frame Brooks Besilza. The older mages were accepting it, too. Finally, Amelia's closing remarks, coupled with Gracie's agreement with the Saintess, had a powerful effect.

There was a sense that the Saintess's words were the words of the Great Church, but the greatest factor was her conduct during her stay at the Mage Tower. Over that month, when she was walking around the tower or the streets outside the times Gracie spent observing Squishy, various magical accidents had occurred. Each time, with Gracie guiding her, Amelia had healed the injured mages. The words of the Saintess who had healed them carried weight with both her patients and those who had witnessed her healing.

Yet even more decisive in persuading the mages was Gracie herself. To outsiders, Brooks Besilza had favored Gracie, and she had respected him more than anyone for helping her. And now that very Gracie had killed him! But it all made sense if Brooks Besilza had actually tried to trap and kill Ventus Frail, and if, far from supporting her, he had enjoyed watching her remain a despised magical-device mage.

In the end, most of the mages accepted Nellin's party's revelations as truth. With opinion so firmly against him, Brooks Besilza received no funeral, despite having been master of the Mage Tower.

"This is our family's home."

Once things had settled down somewhat, Gracie invited the party to the Frail family home. The purpose of the visit was to deliver Smartass's message to her grandmother, as originally planned. At first, someone suggested that such a message ought to be delivered with only family present, but Gracie asked them to please stay and watch her deliver it.

Though the Frail family had produced a hero, their home was a very ordinary-sized house. They lived on a subsidy to begin with, and had no reason to move into a larger home.

Gracie's parents greeted the party as soon as they entered.

"W-welcome, everyone!"

"Lady Nellin! Your Holiness! Sir Paladin and your companions, w-welcome!"

With so many famous people present, they welcomed the party in a state of extreme nervousness, breaking into cold sweats.

'I'm sure I'd have been the same if this whole group had suddenly shown up the first time.'

Smiling at her parents' perfectly ordinary reaction, Gracie reunited with them after their long separation.

"Mom, Dad. Have you been well?"

"G-Gracie! Of course! Mom and Dad have been just fine."

"We were so relieved when your grandparents told us you were safe. But... to think the lich was Lord Ventus."

"Your grandmother nearly fell over when she heard the news."

"R-really?"

"Yes. Fortunately, your mother was beside her, so she didn't fall."

"Your grandparents are waiting inside, so come on in. Oh, please come in too, everyone."

Following her parents' invitation farther into the house, they found Gracie's grandparents seated on the living-room sofa.

"Gracie, everyone... I'm sorry to ask as soon as you arrive, but would you tell us the truth?"

"Yes, Grandma."

"That was the plan all along."

Gracie told her family the truth: that Ventus Frail was the lich, and that Brooks Besilza had tried to kill him. Along with the story of how he had become a lich, she delivered the message he had asked her to pass on to his older cousin. He thanked her for giving him a slap on the back and bolstering his courage when he set out from the Mage Tower.

"Ah... aaah... Ventus..."

Upon hearing the message, Ventus Frail's older cousin, Niall Frail, wept.

'Grandma...'

Gracie wanted to tell her everything. Contrary to the story they had heard, Ventus Frail had not actually been slain, and was living with Saintess Fresia. She wanted to reveal it all and reunite the two cousins.

But she could not reveal something Ventus and Fresia themselves wanted kept secret. Above all, carelessly revealing it might put her family in danger.

When her tears had run their course, Niall Frail wiped her eyes and smiled at Gracie.

"Thank you, Gracie, for bringing me his last words."

"No, I..."

Before Gracie could continue, her grandmother interrupted.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you? We've prepared a modest meal for everyone. Shall we go to the kitchen?"

"Oh, food! Come on, Squishy."

'Okay!'

Claire was the first to follow Niall Frail, taking Squishy with her.

+++

The somber atmosphere that had accompanied the initial revelations gradually eased over the meal. Gracie's mother, who ran a boxed-lunch shop, had cooked everything herself, and everyone praised the food. After eating and relaxing at the Frail home for about an hour, the party exchanged smiling farewells and returned to the inn.

"All right, then... What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are your plans? Me, I was looking for Squishy while traveling around in the first place."

Nellin pointed her thumb at Godric's companions and Claire behind her.

"These guys will be tagging along with me anyway. What about you? Coming with us? Or will you stay at the Mage Tower and the Holy City respectively?"

"Well..."

"Oh, and one more thing."

Nellin turned to look at Squishy perched on Claire's head.

"Squishy, who do you want to stay with?"